President Donald Trump suggested Friday he would leverage the future of a prized spy tool of the U.S. national security apparatus to pass a stalled Republican-backed voter identification bill through Congress.
Speaking with reporters on Air Force One, Trump was asked about an effort by Republican Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna to leverage talks over the expiration of Section 702 in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to force the passage of the SAVE America Act.
Luna first hinted at the idea in a Monday interview withThe Hill.
“On FISA, Mr. President, Anna Paul[ina] Luna is pushing to have the SAVE America Act linked to FISA in the FISA Renewal. Are you in favor?” Daily Caller reporter Reagan Reeseaskedthe president.
“I think she’s great, and I’d love to see that,” the president responded. “The SAVE America Act is so important, it’s so good. It’s voter ID, it’s … basics about a Democracy, voter ID, birthplace.”
The president also said that provisions regarding “transgender mutilization [sic]” of minors and men in women’s sports, among other items, were highlighted in the bill.
“We also have no mail-in ballots other than for the military, et cetera, if you’re sick … if you’re away, if you’re disabled, any of those things, it’s pretty generous, actually,” Trump continued.
“But, [there is] tremendous cheating that goes on with the mail-in ballots, so we would have no mail-in ballots except for those various exceptions.”
Trump’s comments come after the Senate passed a short-term extension of FISA’s Section 702, allowing the provision to run until April 30 while giving legislators more time to work out a deal.
Talks are being held up by Republican hardlinersseekingguardrails for the Section, including warrants and preventing data brokers from selling information to the government.
Source: VidNews » Feed
